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Ahhh…Westeros, a land rife with politicking, neck stabbing, thieving and scheming, and plotting why do I love thee so? In this second chapter of Telltale Games’ Game of Thrones: Iron from Ice “The Lost Lords” brings you back to the broken House Forrester and continues their struggle against the Whitehall’s, Bolton’s and Lannister’s. The game starts with a recap of the decisions you made in the last chapter so you can cringe and swear to yourself all over again when you see the results of your poor choices. As the credits roll you are pulled to Yunkai following the liberation of the city by Daenerys Targaryen to find Asher Forrester, the exiled son of House Forrester who was largely absent from the first chapter, attempting to collect a bounty on a slaver in one of the city’s taverns. Things, per usual in Westeros, take a turn for the worse when Asher and his mercenary companion Beskha are assaulted by the Lost Legion. The game then launches into a chaotic fight scene that brings evolved mechanics from the first game. The fights require timed thumb stick swipes to dodge attacks, quick time events to attack or avoid attacks, and the Telltale Games’ standard mechanic of moving the target over the highlighted portion of enemies’ bodies and pushing the right button. I was surprised at the speed of the battle, and the timer moves much quicker. I got Asher run through with swords several times before I got it right. Sorry Bro.

The game is high on narrative and again bounces around to the children of House Forrester. You visit Mira again at King’s Landing where she continues to serve Margaery Tyrell and is divided between her loyalty to her family and the family she serves, you take part in Gared Tuttle’s first days on The Wall as a Night’s Watch initiate, and in a small plot twist you find out, once thought dead, that Rodrick Forrester survived his ordeal at The Twins and is brought back to Ironrath and though crippled takes his place as Lord.

The narrative unfolds as Rodrick tries to rekindle the love of his betrothed Lady Elaena Glenmore whose father commands an army that the Forresters can use to secure their holdings, if only she would still want to marry. Gared gets a short and curt lesson from Westeros’ favorite bastard Jon Snow, who I feel needed a lot more screen time, as they prepare for Mance Raynar’s attack on the wall from The North.

The episode ends at the funeral of the Lord Gregor, killed at The Twins, as Talia Forrester sings a song while the funeral pyre burns; while cut scenes of the estranged family members are interjected over the assembly standing vigil. Before the credits role the camera focuses on Rodrick where an intense look of pain, anger, and focus plays across this scarred face. End episode and you get the recap on how your decisions stacked up against the rest of the community who have played the game and then instantly regret some of those decisions.

I am an unabashed Game of Thrones fan and this game continues that love affair. The decisions you are required to make are tough and painful and makes the decisions you make in games by Bioware or Bethesda seem easy. The best answer is often the most difficult choice as you start to care about these characters and that choice often will not make them happy or even safe. The cameos of the TV shows’ main cast continues to tie this story into the carefully crafted world that HBO and George R.R .Martin have created.

Gameplay wise I only had a few small issues with this chapter. In several of the scenes the backdrops or settings appeared grainy and wavy in appearance. The image would settle and stabilize after a few seconds in frame, but it was still noticeable. There were also some lags in the more action packed scenes where the frame would freeze for second before catching up. In a game that is narrative and choice driven these are not huge deals. Where I did have a larger issue, and it’s more of an annoyance really, is several times dialogue was repeated twice in a row. It would usually occur when a character interjected his/her thoughts into a scene. That line of dialogue would repeat its self and the scene would continue. This chapter seemed shorter than the first one, but still extremely enjoyable. I give it 9.5 out of 10 stars. To all who play this game I say Valar Morghulis!

There is a moment in-between the dying light of day and the approach of night that reveals the fear in the soul of man. Dying Light’s intriguing contrast of the day and night cycle brings about this idea. During the day you jump from balconies and rooftops trying to avoid the hordes of zombies while you scavenge and complete missions. You think to yourself, “this isn’t so scary”. However, when the light of day sets and you enter the night cycle super zombies known as Volatiles emerge. They immediately begin howling and instantly you know they carry your death. You have two options – run for safety or hide. Fear sets in.

Dying Light starts with an adrenaline filled first-scene and quickly becomes a slow burn. The opening scene has Kyle Crane, a secret government operative, jumping from a plane into the city of Harran – a fictional city set in ancient Turkey. His mission is to infiltrate the Tower and find a secret file which contains critical data about the zombie virus. He is immediately bitten and then saved by Jade Aldemir –the sexy heroine. She takes him to the tower where the prologue starts. The beginning of the game has moments of boredom as you begin to understand the mechanics which heavily revolve around parkour. I urge you to push through! As you pass the prologue and begin to bite into the game, you quickly realize the intrigue it possesses.

The weapons system is one of the most likeable and friendly parts of the game. As you collect weapons, you are introduced to an easy system of modifications and upgrades. As a gamer I found it refreshing that I didn’t get slowed down by a weapons creation system that you have to spend hours on. The cooperative mode was fluid and entertaining. Who doesn’t like bashing in zombie brains with their friends? It made me feel like I was starring in Shaun of the Deadwith my besties. And the “Be the Zombie” mode was exhilarating as you can invade another gamer’s world as a Night Hunter zombie and try to kill them.

There are a few issues with the game. The mechanics of the parkour system are at times frustrating, the map can be confusing, the climbing of ridiculously tall obstacles can create gamer stress and the distance you have to cover can be annoying as there are no instant travel points.

So the question is to buy Dying Lightor not to buy Dying Light? Yes it harkens to Dead Islandand has smatterings of gameplay that remind you ofFar Cryand Fallout. It has shortcomings and lacks deep characters. But shouldn’t gaming also be about entertaining gameplay and connecting with your friends? For me it is a must buy. I give it an 8.0. A review code for PS4 was provided for this report.

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